North Quincy avoids upset, rallies for 2-2 tie with Quincy

John Ross McEvilly’s goal with 34 seconds left capped a two-goal comeback Wednesday night and lifted the Red Raiders into a 2-2 tie with the underdog Presidents.

By Jay N. Miller

Wicked Local

By Jay N. Miller

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 17, 2013 at 5:06 PM

By Jay N. Miller

Posted Jan. 17, 2013 at 12:01 AM
Updated Jan 17, 2013 at 5:06 PM

QUINCY

» Social News

In their first meeting a few weeks ago, the North Quincy High hockey team pulled away from a young Quincy squad in the final period to win, 6-1. Wednesday night at Quincy Youth Hockey Arena, the Presidents came within 34 seconds of beating their cross-city rivals.

Quincy (1-8-1) led, 2-0, after two periods and seemed on the brink of a monumental upset.

But a pair of third-stanza goals, including John Ross McEvilly’s goal with 34 seconds left, enabled the Red Raiders (6-1-2) to salvage the 2-2 deadlock.

“Quincy wanted it more than we did, and it showed in the first two periods,” said North Quincy coach Matt Gibbons. “They outworked us big time. We also had those penalties to kill and they capitalized on their scoring chances while we didn’t.

‘‘They were beating us to all the 50/50 pucks, outplaying us along the boards. The big difference in the third period was just that we worked harder than we had been, just effort.

“I get the rivalry and understand what it means,” Gibbons added. “But we try to have our team take the mindset that we take every game the same, with the same focus and intensity. It’s not like a win here tonight makes our season complete because we want to go further. Quincy wanted to beat us because it would be a big win for them, but we have to take a different mindset because we want to be playing for a (state) championship in March.”

Quincy’s locker room, on the other hand, had to balance its disappointment at letting victory slip away with the real evidence that the Presidents improved enormously from that first meeting.

“Less than a month ago we lost to them 6-1, and now we tie them 2-2, while outplaying them for about 99 percent of the game,” sighed Quincy coach Tim Lewis. “You have to give North Quincy credit, they never quit and that’s the sign of a mature hockey team. I’m frustrated that we didn’t get a win, but I’m very proud of our effort. We dominated play tonight, but the scoreboard just doesn’t show it.

“We are getting better, game by game,” Lewis added. “I think tonight we turned a corner – not the corner, but we did turn a corner and we are getting better and working hard.”

The first period was fairly even, although Quincy had all the best scoring opportunities. NQ junior goaltender Nolan Greene robbed Quincy sophomore Brian O’Callaghan in the third minute and freshman Jake Hallisey from close-range in the slot in the eighth minute.

But Hallisey and his mates were persistent and it paid off at 7:34 as Hallisey curled from the slot toward the right circle, uncorking a wrist shot that gave Quincy a 1-0 advantage.

Page 2 of 2 - In the second period, the Presidents made it 2-0 as Patrick Freeman rammed home a rebound with Mike Pugsely picking up his second assist.

The Red Raiders climbed back into the game at 5:23 of the third period when senior Rudy Tryon set up defense partner Brendan Brady at the right point. Brady’s slapshot took a big hop about halfway to the goal, but found its target and closed the gap to 2-1.

A bone-jarring collision later in the period left McEvilly prone on the ice, and he left the game briefly to have a sore jaw checked out by EMTs. But the junior forward was soon back.

In the final odd-man rush, NQ junior Rob Cameron fired on net and, while Quincy sophomore netminder Ryan Higgins made the save, McEvilly got to the rebound before the goalie could smother it and scored the equalizer.

“With (senior captain Shawn) Grady out, we have been working hard to score goals,” noted Gibbons. “We’re really going to need to depend on guys like John Ross McEvilly, who scored a huge goal tonight. Hopefully we can get Rob Cameron and Andrew Currie going, too, and get some of our scorers’ confidence back.”